When Daniel Rivera was released from prison in 2008, he hoped to obtain his license to become a plumber — only to learn that he couldn’t because he is a felon. Instead, he got a job at a restaurant.

“The plan I had wasn’t what I ended up with today,” he says.

Even so, the Vernon man says he’s been lucky. Of the estimated 700,000 people who are released from incarceration every year, many haven’t shared his success in finding employment, according to the National Employment Law Project.